Heart let Jets game slip away

The A-League team that can't hold a lead let a match slip away again in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle Jets on Saturday night and coach John Aloisi is at a loss to know why.

Twice the Heart held sway at AAMI Park. They led 2-0 inside the opening five minutes.

Newcastle fought back to 2-2, before the Heart took the lead again with 18 minutes left.

With three minutes left, the Heart gave away a penalty and two points.

Failing to put teams away has been a theme both under former coach John van 't Schip and now Aloisi, who admitted extreme disappointment at his team's inability to bury the Jets in a dominant first half.

"It's disappointing, because the first half was good - exactly what we wanted to do and what we worked on during the week," Aloisi said.

"It's hard to put a finger on it. Maybe it was too easy for them... you stop doing those little things that made it work in the first half.

"It can happen, but it's happening too many times this year.

"Even when you're three, four or five up, you still have to do all the right things. We didn't do that in the second half."

The Heart now face a bottom of the table away clash next weekend against Sydney FC.

They will lose fullbacks Aziz Behich and Michael Marrone, and Saturday night's two-goal hero Richard Garcia to Socceroos duty at the East Asian Cup.

All will be missed, with Garcia playing as well as anyone in the A-League since his return this season from a long stint playing overseas.

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